Rice Lady Owls fall to Marquette in NCAA tourney opener

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KTRK) -- The Rice Lady Owls took a back and forth battle into overtime vs. Marquette, but the team's late cold shooting and costly turnovers led to a 58-54 loss in its NCAA tournament opener.

This was the Rice women's basketball team's first NCAA tournament appearance in 14 years.

The Lady Owls got 22 points from Erica Ogwumike and 18 from Nancy Mulkey.

The loss also snaps a 21-game winning streak for Rice.

Rice won the Conference USA tournament and regular season championships.

The Rice-Marquette first round matchup took place in College Station by virtue of Texas A&M earning a No. 4 seed, the highest among the four teams in this grouping. The Lady Aggies will face Wright State in their opening round matchup.

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Baylor, the Big 12 champions, are the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament. The Lady Bears will face No. 16 Abilene Christian in their first round game. Elsewhere, the Texas Lady Longhorns garnered a No. 7 seed, and will take on No. 10 Indiana to open up their tournament.

The women's tournament begins play on Friday with the Final Four taking place in Tampa, Florida, on April 5 with the championship game two days later.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.